Ireland won, got the bonus point and scored eight tries.
Still, there will be regrets.
Joe Schmidt’s men were 42-0 up midway through the second half and on-course to add 60+ points to their difference. Injuries and substitutions saw them get disjointed and it took a dashing Keith Earls cover tackle to prevent Italy getting a try-scoring bonus of their own.
In the end, the 56-19 victory saw Ireland go top of the Six Nations table and set themselves up for the home ties against Wales and Scotland.
However, the injuries to Tadhg Furlong [hamstring] and Robbie Henshaw [shoulder] may cost Ireland of a couple of leaders, and there could be another loss to the squad.
In the post-match press conference, Schmidt offered updates on Furlong, who he hopes could be fit to face the Welsh, and Henshaw:
“We’ll know more after his scan tomorrow, he looked in a fair bit of discomfort when he came off but he was more comfortable later on.
“What’s not promising was the degree of discomfort he was in at the time.
“We’ll have an update hopefully later once he’s had that scan.”
Henshaw may yet be ruled out of the championship – Schmidt admitted it was a “possibility” – and Jack Conan could also be facing time on the sidelines.
The Leinster back-row was expected to get an extended run in the Ireland team, against Italy, but he only lasted 40 minutes. Lock Iain Henderson was also withdrawn at half-time but that was described as “tactical” by an IRFU spokesman after the match. Schmidt commented:
“Jack just took a dunt on the shoulder.
“The shoulder is being checked out but we hope it’ll be okay. We will see how that looks over the next week.”
Ireland will be thankful that they have next weekend off and Schmidt remarked that he would be happy if he had ’20 fit bodies’ for training at Buccaneers RFC, in Athlone, midweek.
